It was much later when she was finally alert enough to get out of bed. She spent a long time in the shower, then pulled on jeans and a long-sleeved top. She slipped on her shoes and went to the kitchen.
She had just switched the kettle on when she heard the front door open. She looked at her watch. Eleven thirty. It had to be Brenda.
“I’m in the kitchen,” she called out.
Brenda walked in, took off her beret and shook out her hair. Fine droplets glinted in the electric light. Ellie wondered where she had been.
“I thought you were still partying.”
Ellie busied herself with the coffee mugs. “I may be a sucker for punishment, but I’m not that bad.”
“So, were you a good daughter to your mom? Did you give her away with the mandatory blessing?”
“I’ve never been a good daughter to my mom, but I gave her my blessing. Coffee?”
“Yes, thanks, but here, let me make it. Where’s the colonel? I see his bakkie is still here.”
“I don’t know. Probably still working.”
“Shall I find out if he wants coffee?”
“I’ll go. He’s probably on his way.”
Ellie slipped through the door and nearly collided with Nick. She was glad to see he was dressed.
“Oh, here you are. Brenda is making coffee. She wants to know if you’re joining us.” Her voice was unnecessarily loud. She shook her head and hoped he would understand.
“Thanks, that would be nice. Does anyone have a smoke?” he walked past Ellie, into the kitchen. She shook her head.
“Evening, Brenda,” Nick said. “Did you have a nice day?”
“I’ve had better, but I can’t complain. You?”
“I can’t complain either, except that I’d give anything for a smoke right now.”
“Sorry, can’t help you.” She looked from Nick to Ellie. “Anything new?”
Nick leaned against the kitchen cupboard. “Nothing.”
“I might have some news for you.” Brenda looked at Ellie, who was still standing in the doorway. “Can I trust him?”
“With what?”
“I saw my friend today. The one I told you about.”
Ellie looked at Nick, but immediately lowered her eyes. “I suppose you can tell him.”
“Allegretti, or someone who looks like him, came to see the Russian quite late on Sunday night.”
“Who’s your friend, and how does she know this?” Nick asked.
“You have to swear on the lives of all your surviving family not to give her away. She has nothing to do with the whole business. We all have to make a living, and that’s her way.”
“Brenda, I haven’t been in this game since yesterday. I know how it works.”
“She can’t remember the exact time, but it could have been about eleven, she said. Allegretti and Barkov were in the study for a while. At some point a lot of shouting went on. Then Allegretti left.”
“Does she know what he was driving?”
“No. She was inside the whole time.”
“Did Barkov say anything afterwards?”
“Only that he refused to be threatened by little boys who still sucked their mothers’ tits and that he’s definitely not a bank.”
“Does she know if Barkov gave him any money?”
“Not that she saw.”
Nick took his coffee mug and went to the dining room. Ellie followed and saw him frown as he studied the whiteboards.
“He’s trying to get hold of money. What’s so urgent that he’d go to Barkov?”
“Clara. Maybe Clara’s kidnappers are blackmailing him,” she said between sips. “My first thought was that she wasn’t kidnapped for money, but maybe I was wrong. Though I don’t think it was only for money. Someone is targeting Allegretti.”
“Have we definitely decided he didn’t kidnap her?”
“He didn’t kidnap her.”
“I’m reasonably sure it wasn’t Mang either and you say Williams hasn’t got her. Who’s left?”
“Many others.”
“If we decide Allegretti is being blackmailed for a large amount, it means the kidnappers must have contacted him.” Nick had barely stopped speaking when he had his cellphone out of his pocket and started dialling.
While he was waiting for his call to be answered, Nick glanced at Ellie. She had put down the coffee mug and folded her arms. Gone was the woman who had fearlessly sat on top of him an hour ago with her disfigured body. A body that had been soft under his hands. He could see from here that her eyes were clear again. She seemed on edge, shoulders hunched. The tension was back. She had retreated from the place where he believed few had ever been allowed access. He was finding it hard to focus. He wanted to be in bed. There had been a moment when a great calm had seemed to envelop them. Like the proverbial eye of the storm. He hadn’t been there for a long time.
“Hello,” a voice croaked.
“Jansen, are you asleep? Wake up, I need information. I want a list of all the numbers that have called Allegretti’s phone since Friday night. I want it now. Mail it through.”
He disconnected and looked from Ellie to Brenda, who had come wandering in. “Someone wants money from him. He can probably get his hands on two million any given day. It means they want more. For more than two million, he’ll need his father or his sister’s signature.”
“How much do they owe Mang?”
“If I remember correctly, about three million.”
“Could be that Visser wants to clear the debt and is using the chance to keep a little change for himself.”
“When do you kidnap someone?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you take the trouble to kidnap a person? And who is usually kidnapped?”
Ellie cleaned one of the boards. At the top she wrote:
Kidnappings in South Africa
Who gets kidnapped?
Why Clara?
She put down the marker. “Children are kidnapped, but not very often for money. It’s usually about sex and violence. Or in certain communities about rituals, or muti killings. Serial killers kidnap victims who fit a certain profile … Let’s forget for a moment about our suspicion that Allegretti is looking for money. Let’s just look at possible reasons why someone would kidnap Clara.”
“She may be a serial killer’s first victim,” Brenda suggested.
“Or,” Nick said, “one who has killed before, but not often enough to have earned the title. Have there been any unsolved murders of women over the past few years? I’m talking about murders where more or less the same modus operandi was used.”
“There are many unsolved murders. I’ll ask Clive to find out if they’re looking for a killer whose victims fit Clara’s profile.”
“If someone wanted to kill Clara, why didn’t they shoot her in the street that night?” Nick sat down on a corner of the table.
He saw Ellie thinking it over. “Serial killers usually work alone. This was a well-planned operation involving a number of people. They stole a vehicle and made certain the bodyguards couldn’t help her. That means they didn’t just happen to be in the right place at the right time.”
“Why Clara, and not one of the other girls?” Nick asked. “They’re all equally good-looking. If that’s what it’s about.”
“People with a certain value are kidnapped,” Ellie answered her own question from before. “Clara has a certain value to someone – a killer, or someone who wants to keep her captive for his own pleasure. Or she may have something they want. Or she has bartering value.”
“You mean like a human organ or something?” Brenda asked, shivering visibly.
“Yes, but she’s not the only one with two kidneys, a heart, and so on. Why go for a girl who has armed bodyguards, while there are thousands of girls that are more readily available?”
“They could have mistaken her for someone else,” Brenda said.
Ellie nodded. “It’s possible.”
“Why
was Mang’s right-hand man killed?” Nick asked.
“To send Mang a message. Just like the hijack attempt on Visser. There are bad vibes among the group.”
“The same could be said about Clara’s disappearance. It may be a message to Allegretti or Williams.”
Ellie nodded again. “Also possible. Let’s bring Allegretti and Williams back into the picture. Let’s accept Barkov’s allegation that Allegretti wanted money from him. Is it coincidence, or is everything connected?”
“Allegretti may be busy with a transaction he doesn’t want Visser to know about,” Nick said. “And purely by coincidence he got so desperate for money this weekend that he went to Barkov – and when he got no help there, he disappeared.”
“Let’s forget about coincidence for a moment,” Ellie argued, “and say Clara was kidnapped for money. Why are they targeting Allegretti and not Williams? Allegretti probably has more money than Williams, but Williams is hardly poor and he’s her father figure. If I kidnap someone, I’m not going to ask a stranger for money. I’m going to ask someone close to the victim.”
Nick ran his hand over his face. “In other words, someone knows Clara is still so important to Allegretti that he’d be prepared to fork out a lot of money for her.”
“We assume that he’s looking for more than two million … That brings me to the question whether Allegretti and Clara have really had no contact during the past five months.”
“We went through her cellphone and her laptop. There’s no evidence that they’ve been seeing each other.”
“Maybe someone has been helping them,” Brenda interrupted. “It’s not difficult to get someone to look the other way for an hour or two. Especially if there’s money to be made. People do strange things for money.” She smiled. “Present company included.”
“As far as we know, her uncle’s people never left her on her own,” Nick answered.
“They can hardly watch her twenty-four hours a day. It’s not difficult to slip away for an hour or two. If you’re in the hair salon, you slip out the back, come back after a while. Or the beauty parlour.”
“Brenda’s right,” Ellie said. “Someone may have been paid to help them. How hard is it to take a detour?”
“Couldn’t you have waited until tomorrow to open this can of worms? I can’t think straight.” Nick noticed that Ellie hadn’t skipped a beat.
“We’re looking for someone who specifically wanted to kidnap Clara. Someone who knows she’s valuable to Allegretti. It’s not about Williams. It’s about her and Allegretti.”
“Could Reggie be our man?”
“He wants Clara, not Allegretti’s money.”
“Maybe he thinks it’ll be easier if he had money as well?”
“If you want my five cents’ worth,” Brenda said, pulling out a chair, “Clara isn’t after the Italian’s money. He gives her a life she could only have dreamt of as a little girl.”
“You’re right,” Ellie said. “Reggie could have all the money in the world, and he’d still be the boy who grew up with her. It may sound strange, but even if Allegretti and Reggie did exactly the same things, Allegretti’s world is separate from reality. With Reggie, she’d know exactly what was going on. She’d know where the money came from.”
“True. The house in Bantry Bay is high enough to look down on many things.”
Nick folded his arms. “Let’s say you’re right. Are we looking for someone with a grudge against Allegretti? Or someone who’s taking advantage of the situation? Knowing he’ll pay for her?”
“Good question, but I don’t have the answer.” Ellie threw up her hands. “I’m going to bed.”
Her body language made it very clear to Nick that this time he wasn’t invited. He said goodnight to Brenda. When he got into his bakkie he sat for a while. He was almost too tired to drive home.
He had just got into bed when he received a WhatsApp message.
Don’t make it more complicated than it is. You said I get one night to do whatever I like.
He sank back against the pillows.
As long as you feel you had a choice.
Don’t flatter yourself. You’re not that irresistible.
Can I ask you something?
You want to ask why I haven’t had plastic surgery. Sometimes you need scars to remind yourself not to make the same mistakes.
What do you need to be reminded about?
That I’m responsible for my own safety.
Ellie didn’t wait for a response. She switched off the bedside lamp and turned on her side. She was too tired to continue the conversation, yet her thoughts wouldn’t settle down. Of all the stupid things she had done in her life, this evening was high on the list. Even Albert would have been a safer and less complicated alternative. For that matter, Clive might have been a better bet, or Marius.
She touched the scars on her chest. She could still feel Nick’s lips there. There was a moment when she had wanted to switch off the light, but another part of her had taken over. She had no idea what had made her want to test him.
She typed a message to Melissa: Teach Mia to look out for dangerous men.
The reply came almost immediately: Why aren’t you asleep?
I’ve been working. You?
Antonie is asleep and I’m not tired. Watching a movie I’ve seen 20 times.
Go cuddle your husband.
What kind of men are dangerous?
Men who don’t flinch at your scars.
Sweetie, are you OK?
Yes. Thanks for today.
Don’t mention it. Sleep tight.
Ellie closed her eyes. Her mother got married today and she wasn’t a good daughter and she had sex with a dangerous man who was almost a stranger to her. She heard her father’s voice: “If it’s drowning you’re after, don’t torment yourself with shallow water.”
CHAPTER 21
The next morning Ellie was up early. When she walked into the kitchen, she was surprised to see that Brenda was already dressed, and making three mugs of coffee.
“Are we expecting guests for breakfast?”
“The colonel and Captain Barnard are already here.”
Ellie walked to the office she and Clive had made their headquarters but there was no one. She heard voices coming from Nick’s office. He and Clive were poring over Allegretti’s cellphone records when she entered.
“Good morning,” she said. “Found anything?”
“There are a lot of numbers here. We’ve eliminated a few. A few others may not be what they pretend to be, and three of them go straight to voicemail.”
“If I were the kidnappers I’d also switch off my phone and remove the SIM card, especially the one I used for the call to make my demands.” Ellie picked up the list and studied it, but she failed to recognise any of the numbers. “I wish I could spend a night or two at Williams’s house.”
“No,” both men chorused.
“We’re going around in circles and the clock is ticking.”
“What do you think you’d find out if you spent a night there?” Clive asked, frowning.
“It’s not so much what I’d find out, it’s more about a feeling. You pick up the energy around you.”
Clive looked at Nick, then at her. “Why don’t you go marry that minister? You’re making me old before my time.” He left the room and Ellie heard him talking to Brenda in the kitchen.
“I need a car.”
“I’ll arrange for you to get one tomorrow.”
Ellie took her empty mug back to the kitchen and jumped when Nick suddenly spoke behind her.
“Tokarev.”
She turned, just as Clive left his position in front of the whiteboards and came walking towards them.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“I should have concentrated more. I’ve just remembered: Allegretti Senior has a Tokarev pistol. It was a gift from someone.”
“So Patrice was shot with a pistol that may belong to the old man?” Clive said.
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Nick nodded. He crossed the floor to Brenda’s desk and handed her his credit card.
“Please get me on a flight to Joburg.” He looked at his watch. “Book my return early tomorrow morning. Rent a car as well.”
“Why are you going to Joburg?” Clive asked.
“I’m going to pay my employer a visit. If I’m lucky, we may be able to discuss his firearm collection.”
“You don’t think Enzio is hiding at his father’s house?” Ellie asked.
“That’s another thing we may have to talk about.”
When Brenda returned Nick’s credit card, she gave him a printout with his flight details. “I hope you don’t mind, but I did a little online shopping as well.”
Nick glanced up quickly, then smiled. He enjoyed her sense of humour.
“Be my guest. As long as you make someone happy with it.”
“Darling, I don’t make people happy with things. I make people happy.” She spoke under her breath but he heard her.
When Brenda had left, Nick glanced at Clive. “Any news on the murder of Mang’s cousin?”
“Nothing yet. The guys said they’d call me as soon as anything came in.”
Ellie fetched her handbag in the bedroom. When she looked into the office she was surprised to see Paul. At first he didn’t seem to recognise her, but then he gave a slight smile.
“You two remember each other?”
They shook hands. “How are you?” she asked.
Paul looked from her to Nick and back at her. “I don’t know. Seeing you here too makes me suspect I should be even more worried than I already am.”
“I promised you we’re doing our best to sort the whole thing out as quickly as possible,” Nick said. “I asked you to come here this morning to see for yourself that it wasn’t an idle promise.”
“Has there been movement in any of the accounts, Paul?” Ellie asked.
“Nothing. But as I’ve said – he may have another account.”
“Not in Gabriella’s accounts either?”
“Normal transactions. Nothing that raises a red flag.”
“Was there any money in the safe over the weekend?”
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